Hayashi wasn’t afraid to tackle the competition, either. The notoriously critical performance assessments of Bayonetta, which have been likened to Nija Gaiden’s demanding difficulty, don’t faze him in the slightest.

“Bayonetta has some good stuff but Bayonetta is old, game design wise, already,” he said.

In fact, Hayashi isn’t particularly interested in raising the difficulty bar this time around.

“We are aiming to be the number one 3D action game,” he said.

“If we can do that we are fine not focusing on difficulty level. We don’t care.

“But to prevent misunderstanding, Ninja Gaiden fans will still really love it. That is our responsibility. We make sure the fans of the series are satisfied by our game.

Ninja Gaiden III is in development at Team Ninja, and is the first in the series to be produced without input from creator Tomonobu Itagaki.